A Dress to Die For
by abbyfillion22
Summary: Beckett searches for the perfect wedding dress while investigating the murder of an up and coming fashion designer. Spoilers for 6x12
1. Chapter 1

"This one."

"I think that one's too… blue."

"How is it too _blue_?"

"I dunno, it's overwhelming."

"I think I need more champagne."

Castle opened one eye and dared himself to look at the clock. The morning light was streaming into the room through the slats of the blinds, creating bright stripes across the sheets. The air was cool and he was cozily buried in the layers of bed covers until the sounds of several female voices awakened him from his deep slumber. The author had been up late the night before and had been counting on the extra hours of sleep on his much anticipated Sunday off.

He rolled over and squinted at the clock which read 11:47. It was then that he remembered that his fiancé had scheduled brunch with her bridesmaids that morning.

Castle swung his legs over the side of the bed and rubbed the slight ache from his eyes, picking at the corners to remove the tiny flakes of crust. His toes curled in the long fibers of the white shag rug under his feet as he stretched his arms above his head and yawned.

He stood, the hairs on his arms standing up in the sudden cold. Quickly, Castle grabbed a faded grey t-shirt and sweatpants from his dresser and threw them on haphazardly. Before exiting the privacy of his bedroom, he checked his hair, making sure the side part was where it was supposed to be.

Kate, Lanie, and Alexis sat in the living room with a gigantic pile of cloth swatches between them, all of them a different shade of blue. Lanie and Alexis were both bent over a line of carefully selected swatches, intently studying them while Kate sat back with a slightly bored expression, sipping champagne from a thin chute.

The three of them had been discussing color schemes for the wedding for three hours now, having gotten most of the progress done during the first hour; immediately agreeing to eliminate any and all shades of orange, brown, pink, and green. After much debate, they had narrowed the options down to purple or blue, finally deciding that blue was the way to go. Then, it was all a matter of choosing from one of hundreds of shades of the color and now it was a tossup between two very similar shades.

"Morning ladies," Castle said cheerily as he entered the room.

Beckett appeared relieved at Castle's appearance, having just spent the morning on a very boring topic. "Hey!"

"Morning, Darling," Castle said, giving Kate a kiss on the forehead.

"Don't call me 'Darling'," she replied, having always hated that particular term of endearment.

"Hi, Castle," said Lanie, her chin cupped in her hand as she examined the cloth squares.

"Dad!" Alexis said, grabbing the swatches in question and leaping over the table towards her father, red hair flying behind her. "Glad you're up, which do you like better?"

Castle looked from one square of blue to the other. He squinted. "They look exactly the same."

Alexis and Lanie rolled their eyes.

_That's what I thought_, Beckett mouthed to him, her head propped up on her hand.

Alexis shook the cloth in her right hand. "This one's Ultramarine and this one's International Klein Blue."

"Okay, um…" he took both of them and held them up to the light, finally seeing the minute difference in the two. "This one."

Alexis took back the one indicated. "Ultramarine!"

Beckett slumped lower on the couch and raised her index fingers in praise. "_Finally_."

Lanie swept the pile of blue onto the floor where the rest of the colors laid; making that area of the floor look like a rainbow had thrown up. "Great! Now that we have the main color sorted out, we can get started on the secondary!" she dropped a metal ring with hundreds of colored chips in lighter blues, whites, and silvers.

Kate appeared on the verge of snapping. Clearly, her bridesmaids were enjoying the process much more than she.

Castle gave his fiancé a pitying look before heading into the kitchen for coffee.

Miraculously, Beckett's phone rang. It was the precinct. "Beckett," she said, answering.

"Sorry to bother you on your day off, Detective," said Gates. "We just got a call uptown and we're low on staff right now-"

Beckett stood up quickly, much to Lanie and Alexis's dismay. "No trouble at all, sir, I'll be right in. Just send me the address." She hurried into the bedroom to change out of her dress into something more practical.

Gates texted her the address. "Thank you, Beckett, I'll see you at the precinct."

"Thank _you_," she said after hanging up. She stepped into a pair of leggings and tossed on a loose T-shirt before hurrying back into the living room. "Castle! We gotta go, murder uptown."

Castle stopped in the middle of pouring the coffee into two separate mugs, his brow furrowed. "Seriously? I thought you had the day-"

Beckett gave him "the look", silencing him immediately.

"Right," Castle nodded. "I'll put these in to-go cups."

"Aw, seriously?" said Lanie. "You have to go _now?_"

Alexis frowned. "I thought you both had the day off."

Beckett shrugged on her jacket. "So sorry," she said earnestly. "Why don't you two go ahead and choose the secondary colors?"

"Without you?" asked Alexis. "Are you sure?"

She waved it off. "Yeah, I don't mind. You both have impeccable taste, I'm sure you'll make a better choice than I would."

Castle handed her a coffee. "Just let us know when we get back."

"Oh!" Lanie added as they were halfway out the door. "Don't forget we're going dress shopping tonight, girlfriend! You've put it off twice already, no canceling on us now."

Beckett grimaced. "Oh. Great!"

* * *

"Why don't you want to shop for wedding dresses?" Castle asked as they walked up to the crime scene, a popular high-end clothing boutique called White Walls.

"I never said I don't want to shop for wedding dresses, Castle," Beckett replied, nodding to CSU outside of the shop. A small horde of onlookers had accumulated outside, kept at bay with wooden barriers and the presence of uniforms. They all were bundled up against the winter cold, scarves wrapped around red faces, gloved hands clutching cell phones with cameras pointed in the direction of the murder scene in hopes of getting a Tweet-worthy glimpse of the event.

Castle held the police tape up for her. "Yeah, but I know you're avoiding it. Why?"

She sighed as she ducked under the barriers. "Y'know, that sort of thing's never really been… my thing." Kate wasn't quite ready to reveal the true reason behind her reluctance to look for a wedding dress, knowing that it would sound silly.

"Ah," Castle said, reading into Beckett's tone and deciding to drop it for now.

True to its name, White Walls contained clothes in all whites and creams, giving the impression of a winter landscape which the interior designers had played up by decorating the ceilings with glass icicles and the floor with fake snow.

Immediately in front of them was a display of white cashmere sweaters with a silver sign in front of them reading: **50% OFF SWEATERS, JUST $850!**

Castle inhaled deeply as he looked around the store. "Ah, I love the smell of overpriced retail in the morning."

"So where's the vic?" asked Beckett.

"Over here," Perlmutter called to them from a far corner of the shop partially concealed behind a long rack of coats. The ME looked severely out of place amongst the displays of high-end clothing. Even more out of place was the body lying on the floor with a pair of metal scissors in his neck. Bright red stained the floor beneath him.

Castle and Beckett walked over to the scene as CSU maneuvered around the yellow numbered tents, taking pictures and samples and handling plastic bags with care.

"Good morning, Detective," Perlmutter said brightly. He glared at Castle. "Writer."

"Medical Examiner."

"So who's the victim?" asked Beckett. He was in his mid twenties with light blonde hair that was still perfectly in place. His skin was pale, almost as white as his surroundings. Most notably, he was impeccably dressed in a nicely fitted suit, thin black tie, and Italian loafers. On his neck was a tasteful black tattoo in the design of a vine which snaked from below the collar of his shirt up to just under his ear, right at his jawbone.

"Jason Sanders," Perlmutter said, handing her a plastic bag with a wallet in it.

"Time of death?"

"By the amount of blood lost, I'd say between 10 and 11 last night," Perlmutter said, taking the wallet back and handing it to CSU.

"Any idea what he was doing here so late last night?" asked Castle.

"He was meeting with me," a young woman with a French accent interrupted. She wore a crisp white pencil skirt with a white shirt and white heels. Her blonde hair was so light, it was almost white also. Everything about her was proper, done to every last detail of her outfit. Not a speck of dirt was visible on her clothing despite its revealing color. Her hair and makeup was carefully done, her accessories nicely placed so as not to overwhelm to overall feel of the ensemble. She seemed very youthful with her hair done in a French braid down her back and tied with a white ribbon.

Beckett turned to look at the woman who she had just seen outside, giving a statement to LT. "And you are…?"

"Poppy White," she said cordially.

"How appropriate," Castle said out of the corner of his mouth.

"What's your relationship with him?" asked Beckett, feeling undressed in her leggings and T-shirt next to the stylish girl.

"He was a new designer of mine," Poppy replied, her expression sorrowful, "and a good friend… _best_ friends." She paused to collect herself. "We'd known each other since college; we were both majoring in fashion." She pushed her thin hair behind her ear.

"I'm so sorry for your loss," Beckett said empathetically. She noted the vine tattoo on Poppy's neck that matched Sanders'. They must have been _very_ good friends to go to the commitment level of a permanent tattoo.

"Jay was _such_ a talented designer," Poppy continued. She began to walk towards a curtain covering a far wall and pulled it back to reveal another section of the store. "This area isn't yet open to the public," she explained as she showed them in. "It was supposed to be a wing just for Jay's couture."

Like the rest of the store, it was white, but for necessary reasons. The separate room was dedicated to wedding dresses; beautiful wedding dresses of all sorts from beautifully simple to outrageously intricate and wild to the point that they could be classified as avant garde.

One dress stood out in particular. It was in the middle of the room set up on a pedestal, as if it was meant to be the centerpiece. And quite a centerpiece it was. The dress was a creamy white with a fitted heart neckline which was trimmed with miniscule pearls. The thick fabric bloomed from the mannequin's waistline, sewn with a sophisticated pattern down the back, twisting and turning in a natural flow to give the impression of white roses.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Poppy said, catching Beckett staring. She beamed proudly at the piece of art in front of them.

She blinked rapidly, suddenly remembering why she was there. "Yes, it's very nice," she said although _nice_ didn't even come close to describing it. "So Jason designed this?" Beckett circled the pedestal.

Castle was still transfixed by the gorgeous dress. He tried to appear uninterested so Beckett wouldn't have another excuse to call him a metrosexual, as she had teased him about several times in the past for appreciating rare works of art.

"Yes," Poppy nodded. "It's one of a kind… well, now it is. Jay and I were planning on making a duplicate but…"

Beckett discreetly checked the price tag on the pedestal and nearly gagged. $100,000!

Poppy noticed her look of shock. "Like I said, it's one of a kind." She paused, her eyes widening. "Why? Are you interested? Because I'm kind of desperate to get it out of here. Every time I look at it, it just reminds me of Jay…"

"Um, no, thank you. It's lovely but it's a little out of my price range…" Beckett looked at Castle. "A _lot_ out of my price range, actually."

Poppy nodded solemnly. "Shame. You would look gorgeous in it."

"You would," Castle added, imagining seeing Kate walk down the aisle in that dress. Just the thought made his heart skip a beat.

"Anyways," Beckett said quickly, "do you know of anyone who would want to kill Jay?"

"Oh, plenty of people resented him, sure," Poppy said offhandedly. "He was handsome and successful and…" her face became pale. "Oh no."

"What?" Beckett asked.

"Jay's ex girlfriend, Allison Graham," Poppy whispered, her eyes wide. "She… she and Jay had a big argument the other day."

"About what?" asked Castle, tilting his head curiously.

"Jay came out last week and Allison was… upset," Poppy said carefully, not wanting to accuse someone she was unsure about.

Castle's brow furrowed. "Um… how upset? Like… murder-worthy?"

"I don't know about that, but she was pretty mad," said Poppy. "They had been together for three years and I think she was expecting a proposal when he told her he had news."

"That _would_ be pretty upsetting," Beckett noted.

Poppy shook her head. "I felt so bad for the poor girl, she had no idea what was coming."

"Looks like Jason didn't either," Castle said.

Beckett turned the focus away from Castle's poorly timed joke. "Will you be able to compile a list of friends and family for us? Plus anyone else who might want to harm Jay."

"Of course. Please," Poppy said quietly, her eyes brimming with tears. She subconsciously ran a her fingers over her vine tattoo. "Just find the person who did this to Jay."


	2. Chapter 2

Beckett watched Allison Graham through the window of the interrogation room.

The girl was in her late twenties with long brown hair and sharp blue eyes. Unlike many of the suspects who had crossed Beckett's path, she didn't remain frozen in the chair but moved freely about the room, checking her makeup in the mirror.

She was about five foot two and her overall persona made Beckett believe that she would be incapable of murdering her boyfriend even if he _had_ lead her on for three years.

"What are you thinking?" Castle asked, watching Beckett with equal interest.

Beckett tore her gaze from the tiny girl. "I'm thinking that Allison has something to tell us." She studied her target for a moment longer before holding the door open, letting Castle go in first.

Castle took the chair opposite Allison while Beckett stood with her back to the mirror, an interrogation tactic she had developed so the suspect had to watch themselves whenever they lied to her.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Graham," Beckett said softly, crossing her arms and leaning against the mirror.

"Hi?" Allison replied.

"Do you know why you're here?" asked Beckett, remembering how her high school principal had coined this phrase to her many times. Every time, it scared the hell out of her. It was a chance for her to confess on her own and gave the option to not waste time.

Allison folded her hands on the table and sat up straight. "I'm afraid not but I'm going to assume you're about to tell me?"

Castle was getting the sinking feeling that Allison was the type of person who turned all of her sentences into questions whether it was interrogative or not. "Tell us about your boyfriend, Jason."

Allison batted her long eyelashes, clumps of mascara stuck to the end of one particularly long hair. "He was a nice, polite guy. He treated me well."

"Why did you break up?" asked Beckett.

Allison frowned. "Why does it matter?"

Castle smirked. "Just answer the question."

She shrugged. "Difference in interests?" Allison pulled at her eyelashes, removing the clump of distracting mascara.

Beckett took a half step forwards, forcing Allison to look at her. "I think the problem was a _similarity _in interests, Ms. Graham. Like how you're interested in men and so was he."

Allison blinked rapidly. "Okay. I guess you could say that? So why did you bring me here?"

Beckett ignored her question and flipped open Allison's file. "Ms. Graham, when was the last time you saw your boyfriend?"

"When we broke up," said Allison, "about a week ago?"

"Huh," Castle scoffed. "That's funny because a neighbor of Jay's said that you came to visit him at his house two days ago."

"Want to tell us what that was about?" Beckett said with a slight smile.

Allison sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Look, I just went there to see if I could salvage anything from the relationship…?"

"You mean change his mind?" asked Castle.

"No?" she shook her head. "Literally salvage something. Jay and I bought a lot of things together and I thought that we should split our belongings fairly."

"Okay," Beckett said, sitting down next to Castle. "So you went to collect your things and a neighbor heard the two of you arguing."

Allison nodded. "Because we have a dog together, Norman, and I thought that I should get to keep him because my name is on his papers."

Beckett's eyes narrowed into slats. "Did you know that Jay was found dead this morning?"

Allison's face fell, her expression growing stony. "And you think that I killed him?"

Beckett and Castle glanced at each other.

"Did you?" asked Castle.

"Of course not," Allison said calmly, her eyes growing wide. She didn't have the typical response to an accusation, leading both Castle and Beckett to believe that she had seen this coming.

Beckett chewed her lower lip as she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she contemplated how to proceed with the interrogation. "Where were you between 10 and 11 o'clock last night, Ms. Graham?"

Allison took a deep breath. "I was at the library."

"That late?" asked Castle. "A convenient alibi."

Allison regarded him curiously. "It's _convenient_ because I didn't kill Jay. I was at the library because I was studying for my boards. When you're in medical school, you're either working, studying, or sleeping. And I've learned to go without the latter. So yes, I was at the library. You can check with the librarian, she lets me crash there sometimes when I stay too late."

"We'll look into it," Beckett said, already knowing that the alibi will check out. "While we're making calls is there anything else you'd like to tell us?"

Allison smiled sweetly. "No, ma'am."

* * *

Beckett ripped Allison's picture from the murder board but didn't dispose of it. Allison was involved in this in some way or another and she wasn't ready to entirely absolve the girl from the case. Instead, Beckett placed the photo in the back of the case file.

Castle, who had taken the role of Ryan by checking into the alibi, now looked up from his place at her desk where he was sifting through friends and family information while talking to someone on the phone. He was working double time to make up for the boys' absences. "Hey, Beckett?"

"Hm?" she replied, absentmindedly capping and recapping her Expo marker with her thumbnail as she paced in front of the board.

Castle held up a stack of papers inside a manila folder. "According to this, Jay's parents had a sizable life insurance policy on their son since he was their primary bread winner. And recently, they had gone into debt due to a gambling issue."

"That gives us probable cause for either one of his parents," Beckett said, writing their names under the list of suspects.

"Yes, hello, this is Detective Ryan from the NYPD, badge number 41344," Castle said to the person on the phone, winking to Beckett. "I'm calling in regards to Mr. Jason Sanders Sr. and Mrs. Janelle Sanders. Their son was murdered last night, I would like to personally give my condolences." He waited while the person at the retirement home talked. "He has? That's… that's terrible. Well, I'd still like to talk to Mr. Sanders about his son. All right, we'll send a uniform to pick him up. Okay, thank you." He hung up the receiver and swiveled to face Beckett. "So apparently Mrs. Sanders "died" this morning," Castle said, putting air quotes around "died". "But look at this," he tossed Beckett the insurance file.

Beckett scanned the document. "Blah, blah, blah, in the event that Jason Fredrick Sanders should… blah, blah, blah, $90,000… blah, blah, blah… in the event that Mrs. Janelle Anna Sanders should… $100,000!"

"Exactly," Castle nodded. "Mr. Sanders Sr. had a nice insurance policy for his wife also. And you know what else is convenient other than the time of deaths of his wife and son?"

"Don't tell me the next of kin has "died" too."

"That would be even more convenient but no, check out how much Mr. Sanders had gambled away," Castle said, digging out the Sanders's financials from a large stack of evidence. He handed the file to her and waited for her reaction.

Beckett jumped to the final numbers circled in red pen at the bottom of the paper. "$200,000. But he's locked up in a retirement home, there's no way he could have killed his son without someone knowing he was gone during that time unless there's someone else in on it." She scratched her forehead. "Have Karpowski look into his phone records; see who he's been in contact with."

Castle hurried off to find Karpowski with the assignment while Beckett searched for some sort of connection between Allison and Jay the night of his death.

When Castle came back, he was not surprised to find Beckett still glued to the murder board despite the fact that she was due uptown for dress shopping with Lanie and Alexis and Mother in a half an hour. "Hey," he said, breaking her long period of concentration. "Shouldn't you be going?"

"Where?" Beckett asked, scribbling another event on the timeline.

"Dress shopping?"

Beckett looked at her watch and frowned. "Oh, um… I don't really think I should leave with this case still open…"

Castle stared at her with his head inclined. "Beckett."

She blinked.

"Just go. You'll only be waiting around here waiting for evidence and suspects to be brought in which will take hours," he said, forcing her jacket into her hands and pushing her in the direction of the elevator to much resistance.

"Castle, I can't leave you here," she protested, digging her heels into the floor to stop, "Gates was counting on me to work today and you're not even a cop." Beckett spun to face him with her arms crossed stubbornly, her tone adamant.

Castle took her by the shoulders. "I'll tell her that you're out chasing a lead. Go on, you only get one wedding, darling."

"I bet that's what you said your first time too," she retorted smartly. "And don't call me 'darling'."

He laughed it off, insisting that she go.

"Castle, I can't."

"You can't or you won't?"

"I can't and I won't. I need to work."

Castle's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why are you so opposed to going dress shopping? And don't say shopping's not your thing because I have a closet full of gorgeous retail at home that would beg to differ."

He had a point, Beckett had to admit. She _did_ enjoy shopping as much as the next woman.

Castle stood stolidly between her and the murder board, having no intention of budging until she told him what was on her mind.

Wanting to get back to work, she conceded. "Fine," she huffed. "I'm not excited about looking at wedding dresses because…" she looked away, anxiously pushing a nonexistent fly-away hair behind her ear. "I always thought that my mom would be there with me."

Castle's triumphant grin faded quickly. Although he had guessed that Beckett would feel some sort of sorrow during the planning phase of the wedding, he had anticipated the topic of Johanna to come up closer to the actual wedding date. "Oh," he said solemnly, "Right."

Beckett nodded. "Yeah…" she paused, swallowing hard. "When I was a teenager, my friends and I always planned out our perfect weddings, describing the arrangement down to the tiniest detail to who would be waiting for us at the end of the aisle. Always, I imagined that it would be my mom sitting in the seat at the dress shop, giving me constructive critique, probably complaining that I was showing way too much shoulder," both Beckett and Castle smiled slightly at this. "And then she would keep pushing me to keep looking even when I got bored, wanting me to find the perfect one. And when I did, she would tear up and tell me how beautiful I looked; that my fiancé would love it too…"

Castle continued to nod along.

"She would be right there, Castle," Beckett said quietly, gesturing to an invisible place in front of them, "she should be sitting in the front row next to your mom… she would have loved you, y'know."

Castle grinned.

"You two would have had a ball at the family dinners," Kate mused, picturing the two bonding over a humorous anecdote and the famous Beckett family mashed potato recipe at Thanksgiving. Beckett stopped abruptly, realizing that she had deviated from the topic she had been so reluctant to delve into in the first place. She stared sheepishly at the ground. "I know, I'm being silly."

"No," Castle shook his head, "I completely understand." He thought for a moment, searching for the words to console her. "What if…"

Beckett looked him in the eye, sparkling hazel meeting stunning blue.

"What if we left a seat open for her?" Castle finished. "Right in the front row next to mother, just leave an empty chair there in her memory."

Beckett's expression of grief quickly turned to one of joy, her smile wide as could be. "Castle, that's such a sweet thought." She glanced around to make sure they were alone before standing on tip-toe to kiss him. "Thank you."

"Always."

"BECKETT!" Gates shouted from across the room, her head poking out from her office.

She quickly took a step back from Castle. "Yes, sir?"

"We got a new lead on the Sanders case," said the captain, waving a slip of paper with an address scrawled on it in her cramped handwriting. "A pizza delivery man in the area says that he saw Poppy White fleeing the scene just after the time of death."

Beckett's brow furrowed. Poppy seemed like such a sweet girl and Jason had been her best friend… or so she claimed. Beckett knew that Poppy could have easily made up that story just to divert attention from herself. As much as she wanted to believe that Poppy was innocent, it was Beckett's duty to be suspicious of everyone. She retrieved the address of Poppy's apartment from Captain Gates and returned to her desk, sending Martha, Lanie, and Alexis identical apologetic texts about having to cancel on them yet again.

"Where's the motive there?" Castle wondered, taking Poppy's picture from the Friends and Family file and placing it under Suspects.

Beckett shrugged. "Could be anything; jealousy, anger… the price of that one of a kind wedding dress would definitely sky rocket after its designer's death. If Jay was a rising star in the fashion industry, collectors would be scrambling for that piece."

"You think this could be about a dress?" asked Castle. "Poppy wouldn't kill her best friend for the profit, would she?" To Castle, Poppy's sorrow at Jason's death seemed genuine. Beckett was always better at reading into suspect's reactions than he.

"You never know," Beckett sighed, "we should look into her financials to see if she was in any dire need of the cash. In any case, even if she didn't _need_ the money, she could simply be hungry for the recognition. Owning a one of a kind piece like that would no doubt bring in a ton of attention from the media." She shook her head in disbelief. Poppy had opportunity _and_ motive to kill Jason. "I'm going over to White Walls to speak to Poppy, see what she has to say about this witness's statement. Why don't you stay here in case Mr. Sanders comes while I'm gone and look into Poppy's financials?" Beckett grabbed her jacket from the back of her chair.

"On it," Castle said, happy to be useful to the case in Esposito and Ryan's absences. Maybe Gates would induct him as an official member of the team after this.

Beckett gave him a quick kiss goodbye before heading towards the elevator, still slightly guilty for bailing on dress shopping. At least she could say she was _technically_ looking at dresses when she went to White Walls.

"Oh, and Kate?" Castle called out.

She stopped and turned back to where he was, her eyebrows raised.

Castle grinned mischievously. "Do me a favor and try on a dress while you're there, darling." He winked.

"Call me your darling again and I will break both of your legs," she smiled, tapping him on the nose. "Kay?"

"Kay."

* * *

The glass door of White Walls was so transparent, Beckett nearly ran into it in her haste. She stopped, took a step back, and searched for the handle which, coincidentally, was equally as clear as the rest of the door.

As she strode through the entrance, she was met with a blast of warm air. Looking around the deserted shop, she searched for Poppy amongst the towers of stacked merchandise. She spotted a teenage sales girl hunched over a display of white cardigans, straightening and refolding so everything was lined up perfectly.

"Excuse me," Beckett said, flashing her badge. "NYPD. Can you tell me where Poppy White is?"

The girl squinted at the badge, trying to determine if it was real or not. She snapped her gray-colored gum before replying, "in the back." She gestured to the white curtain separating the rest of the store from the wedding boutique.

"Thanks," said Beckett, weaving around the racks to the curtain.

She found Poppy next to the wedding dress they had admired a few hours earlier, frantically circling a mannequin while pinching and pinning certain sections of cream colored fabric. She kept glancing from the first dress to the one she was currently working on to make sure they looked identical. Indie music blasted from a small speaker at her feet and she bent down to silence it upon Beckett's arrival. "Detective Beckett!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad you're here. What do you think?"

Beckett examined the dress. "It looks exactly like the other one."

Poppy looked pleased. "That's what I was going for. But there's a certain something I can't quite get right… I think it's the magical Jay touch. He had such an acute eye for stitching," she said nostalgically, gathering the train in her hands and holding it out to Kate. "What do you think about the fabric? I couldn't find the exact material Jay used but I think it's pretty close."

Beckett felt the material which flowed through her hands like water. "Why are you making a duplicate?" If Poppy was creating another dress, then she didn't care about the value of the original.

"I want another copy for the store once this one sells," said Poppy, setting down her cushion of pins. "A customer requested one like this but didn't want the original."

Beckett nodded, searching the walls for security cameras. "I forgot to ask you when we came here earlier. Where were you between 10 and 11 last night?"

Poppy stopped. "I was here in the store, sorting out the books. Why? That's not when…?"

"That's when Jay was killed, yes," Beckett confirmed.

Poppy turned even paler than her already fair skin. "Oh God," she mumbled. "The store was dark and I… I must have passed right by him on my way out!" Poppy bit her nails nervously.

"Mind if I take a look at your security system? CSU said that the angle wasn't good enough to catch the killer, but they might have missed something."

"Of course," said Poppy, pointing to a door on the other end of the room with a sign reading **AUTORIZED PERSONELL ONLY**.

Beckett found a small area dedicated to security behind the door. She sat down and went over the footage from the night before. As Poppy had said, she was there late that night, calculating the daily numbers. She left around 11:12, never glancing in the direction of Jason's body, a believable action since the rest of the store was so dark and the crime scene was in a far corner of the building behind displays. Beckett sighed and slouched in her chair. She was back to square one.

Just as she was about to give up on the footage, something caught her eye. It was a pause in the footage and a minute in which nothing moved at all, yet the time stamp continued to roll. Someone had tampered with the footage! It was all starting to make sense.

"Hey, Poppy," Beckett called out.

The music stopped playing and Poppy appeared in the doorway. "Yes? Did you find something?"

Beckett swiveled in her chair to face the young designer. "Who else has access to this room?"

Poppy thought about this for a moment. "Um, just me, Jay, and the other workers here."

"Does anyone else besides you have keys to the store?"

"Yes. All of the designers have unlimited access to the workspace out back. It's connected to this room," Poppy said, pointing to another door Beckett had failed to notice previously because its white color camouflaged it.

Every piece to the mystery was falling into place. The killer was one of the designers who had a key to the store and could have easily snuck into the store the night of Jason's death. Since Poppy was in the back room, she wouldn't have seen the person entering.

"I think I know who the killer is," said Beckett, exiting the darkness of the small closet and into the bright white room which contained Jason's life work. She sauntered up to the pedestal in the center of the room, the one showing Jason's masterpiece in its entire splendor. Beckett checked her hands for dirt before reaching out and touching the dress, running the silky fabric through her hands.

Poppy joined her at her side with a look of dismay. "What are you doing?"

Beckett took a step to the side and felt the duplicate dress that Poppy had been working on. To be sure, she touched the original once more. "Feel that," she instructed Poppy.

Poppy gave her a skeptical look before gingerly fingering the fabric of the original. "So?"

Beckett told her to feel her own fabric, the one that Poppy had said was so close to the material Jay had used on his dress.

Poppy did so. After a few seconds, her brow furrowed in concern, her eyes growing wide. She felt Jay's dress and then her own and repeated twice to be certain she was correct in her assumption. "No. It can't be."

Beckett nodded. "It's a fake. It's made of the exact same material you're using right now," she nodded to the roll lying on the floor next to Poppy's sewing kit. "Because the killer was the one who made it. She got the fabric from your back room and created a fake to stand in place of Jay's so she could steal the real one. Jay's death wasn't a premeditated murder, Poppy. It was a robbery gone wrong. The killer hadn't anticipated Jay being in the store so late. When Jay confronted her, she panicked." Beckett paused, analyzing the crime scene. She kicked herself for not even looking into the murder weapon. They were _fabric_ scissors. "So she grabbed the weapon she had on her, a pair of scissors, and stabbed Jay in the neck."

"But… why?" asked Poppy, her mouth agape. Her gigantic eyes gave her the face of innocence.

Beckett took a half step towards Poppy. "You tell me."

The girl cowered, her entire body shaking. "No! I didn't! Jay was my best friend!" she stuttered, her lower lip trembling, tears forming in her eyes.

"You and Jay were the only ones here last night," Beckett said, "you are just as a talented designer as Jay, you can easily create a dress just like his. Obviously," she pointed to the other dress she had found Poppy working on.

"I wouldn't kill Jay, Detective," Poppy said angrily, color rising in her cheeks. She gasped. "But I think I know who did."

* * *

Once again, Beckett sat across from Allison Graham.

Allison stared coolly back at the detective, her face impassive.

Beckett implemented the silence to her advantage, waiting a torturous minute before beginning her investigation. She started with a seemingly irrelevant question. "Ms. Graham, what did you say you were going to school for?"

Allison batted her eyelashes. "Medicine. I hope to be a cardiologist someday."

"That's quite a turn."

"Excuse me?"

Beckett leaned forwards. "That's quite a turn from what you had started out college majoring in." Beckett removed Allison's school transcripts from the folder in front of her. "You originally were majoring in fashion and design. That's how you and Jason met."

"I don't understand what this has to do with anything," said Allison.

Beckett pulled out a photo of Jay Sanders's legendary wedding gown. "Recognize this?"

Allison barely looked at it before denying that she had ever seen it.

"Ms. Graham, before, you had said that you went to talk to Jason to "salvage something from the relationship"," said Beckett, draping one arm over the back of the chair confidently. "You didn't mention that the thing you wished to salvage was the outline and original designs for Jay's priceless wedding dress."

Allison's cocky grin faltered.

"We found the design in your apartment, Ms. Graham," Beckett bluffed. No one had really searched Allison's apartment but she knew that they would discover the outlines if she were to look. "You used them to create a duplicate of Jay's dress."

"And why would I do that?" Allison challenged to see how much Beckett had on her.

"To get back at your ex-boyfriend for leading you on for three years," said Beckett. "You created a duplicate and went there last night to make the switch. We checked your phone records; you're friends with one of the designers there. You had her get you a key to the store and you broke in when you thought it was empty. You brought along the identical dress and replaced it with Jay's. But Jason knew his own work, and you weren't a very experienced hand. He knew right away that something was wrong. Being caught stealing would have meant time in prison. And you couldn't have that, what with your important boards coming up, could you?"

Allison swallowed hard, her smile having faded into a scowl.

"So you followed him out into the main part of the store with a pair of the scissors you got from the back workshop and you killed him," Beckett said.

Allison looked left and right, her mouth in the shape of an O before something occurred to her. She smiled. "And where's your proof? I told you I was at the library last night."

"Yes, and the librarian confirmed that," Beckett nodded, "the old librarian suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's. She could have easily gotten the days you were there confused. And my proof is in your work. You know what else we found at your apartment? The dress. Jay's dress, to be exact."

Allison's face fell. The game was up and she had just lost. "I'd like my lawyer now."

Beckett left the interrogation room with a satisfied grin. Castle was waiting behind the glass for her along with Poppy White. "If Allison is smart, she'll confess," said Beckett, shutting the door firmly behind her. "Thank you, Poppy, for helping with the investigation… and I'm sorry for accusing you before…"

Poppy waved it off and smiled. "You were just doing your job. I'm just glad that you found Jay's killer."

Beckett went to begin to dismantle the murder board in preparation for the next case. "We'll have robbery search Allison's place for the dress and get it back to you as soon as possible."

"Thank you so much," said Poppy with an appreciative smile. "And good luck with your dress hunt tomorrow. As some professional advice, go for more of a cream rather than bright white. Cream will look better with your complexion. "

Beckett narrowed her eyes at Castle who was looking in the opposite direction.

"I may have mentioned to Mother and Alexis that you were available for shopping tomorrow," Castle muttered into his hand.

"Castle!"

"What? You are!"

Beckett smacked him on the arm.

"You can't avoid it forever, sweetheart."

"Maybe I'll show up to our wedding in sweatpants," Kate said with a smirk, "how do you like that?"

Poppy giggled about having started the spat. "Well I'm going to get going. I hope you guys have a nice wedding." She turned on her heel and walked out of the precinct, her white heels clacking against the tile floor.

Castle looked around before leaning into Beckett's ear and whispering, "Or maybe you can show up to our wedding _naked._ I would _really_ like that."

Beckett blushed and checked to see if anyone was watching. "Only in your dreams, Castle."

"Again I say: Look at my life, darling," he jested, raising himself to his full height, crossing his arms, and sticking his nose in the air, "My dreams always come true. Always."


	3. Chapter 3

Kate stood in front of the floor to ceiling mirror, swiveling left then right. She pulled her loose curls up in a knot, examined herself for any change in heart, and then let her hair fall down her back with a sigh. The dress she had on was pretty, but just not _her_. She had taken Poppy's advice to heart, only going with creams and subtle whites. Still, it was the twelfth dress she had tried on at this store alone and she was growing weary of the task. The spotlights shining down on her were making her sweat and after three hours, Beckett was becoming very hungry and therefore, irritable.

Martha, who was sitting between Alexis and Lanie on a futon nearby, exclaimed loudly, "Oh, Katherine, dear, you look marvelous. Simply stunning!"

Kate smiled at her future mother in law in the mirror and thanked her quietly. Martha was on her third glass of champagne and she had slowly become more and more boisterous with every sip. Martha had told her that she looked "marvelous" and "simply stunning" in the last five dresses and Kate was beginning to suspect that the compliments were just the alcohol talking.

Alexis, who had made it her job to take photos of each dress to collect into a contact sheet later, raised her cell phone and took a quick snapshot, saving to a separate camera roll.

"Ooh, girl, you look great!" Lanie agreed, watching with happy jealousy as her best friend tried on wedding dresses in preparation to marry a world famous writer.

"It's very pretty," Alexis offered, tucking her phone away, "but do _you_ love it?"

Beckett was glad to have Alexis along. Castle's daughter was always the practical one, reminding the other two that it was Kate's opinion that mattered most and keeping them all grounded. Kate shook her head. "I _like_ it, but I don't love it."

"No, you're right, not the one," Martha and Lanie chorused.

Kate let out an exasperated sigh as the attendant helped her down from the platform and into the dressing room where she was unzipped. The heavy material pooled around her ankles and she stepped out. The woman helping her offered her the next dress but she waved it away, grabbing for her jeans and T-shirt instead. She emerged a minute later. "Maybe we should just throw in the towel for today."

"Aww. Are you sure?" asked Alexis with a sad expression.

"Yeah," Kate nodded, wiping the perspiration from her forehead. "It's getting late and I'm getting kinda hangry."

Martha leaned over to her granddaughter. "Hangry?" she whispered.

"Hungry, angry," Alexis replied.

"Ah," Martha nodded. "Well, dear, whatever you wish."

"Yeah," Lanie said, already beginning to gather her coat and purse. "We don't want you to just settle. We'll keep looking until you find the _perfect_ one."

Kate gathered her hair into a knot. "And what if I don't find the perfect one?" Showing up naked was beginning to sound more appealing. Maybe Castle's dream _would_ wind up coming true after all. She could only imagine the debacle at the wedding where the bride wore nothing. Her dad would have a fit.

"Don't fret, dear," Martha assured her. "Good things take time. I guarantee you that the perfect one will be the last one you try on. You know how I know that?"

"Because I won't try on another one after I find it?" Kate offered.

Martha pondered this then grinned. "Clever girl," she laughed, patting Kate on the cheek. "But I know that because I've had experience with this. Twice, actually."

"Yeah, I mean, it took you and Castle, what? Four years to get together?" said Lanie, handing Kate her jacket. "That took a long time but it was worth the patience, right?"

"But hopefully it doesn't take me four years to find a dress," Kate joked with an undertone of true worry.

* * *

Beckett entered White Walls with the immaculate wedding dress folded over her arm, safely stored inside a dry cleaning bag. She found Poppy in the workroom, surrounded by rolls of white fabric and thread. Scissors and pins were scattered on the workbench in front of her. On the mannequin was the copy of Jay Sanders's dress, now nearly complete.

This room was the only one that wasn't all white, with a slightly downtown look; brick walls, and old steel tables with stools. One wall was entirely covered with a mirror, like a dance studio would. A large metal garage door was left slightly ajar to let in cool air in.

Poppy hadn't heard the detective enter because of the music blasting from the iHome dock at her feet.

"Hey!" Beckett shouted.

Poppy startled, dropping her piece of silk and safety pins. "Goodness! You gave me a fright!"

"Sorry, I just came to drop this off," she said, laying the priceless dress on the table.

"Thank God you're here," Poppy exclaimed, taking Beckett by the hand and dragging her over to the pedestal where she was working.

Beckett complied, only because Poppy was such an endearing character.

The girl began to remove the dress from the mannequin. "It's so hard to work with the mannequins," Poppy explained, "I mean, what real person is really shaped like this?" she gestured to the stuffed torso's tiny waistline.

Beckett had to agree. She checked her watch since she was due back at the precinct.

Poppy shoved the dress into her arms and pushed Beckett in the direction of a curtained off area. "Go put it on."

Beckett opened her mouth in preparation to protest but Poppy cut her off. "Please?" she begged. "It'll only take a few minutes. You'd look gorgeous in it, I swear. Your fiancé thought so too."

Beckett reluctantly slinked off into the dressing room and began to strip out of her street clothes. She held the dress up. Poppy had done a fantastic job on it. It was almost an exact copy of Jay's original. Carefully, she unzipped the dress and stepped into it, pulling the silky fabric up over her hips and zipping it again.

Kate pushed the curtain back and walked back out to where Poppy was waiting anxiously. The designer gasped, staring at her in awe.

"Oh. My. God," Poppy marveled.

"What?"

Poppy took her by the shoulders, spinning her in the direction of the mirror. "It's perfect!" she cried.

Beckett slowly looked up at her reflection and she couldn't help but gasp too. It _was_ stunning and it fit almost perfectly, coincidentally.

Poppy jumped up and down and clapping her hands like an excited preteen at a Justin Bieber concert. She stepped behind Beckett and twisted her hair into a knot, securing it with a spare hair tie she had around her wrist. "Oh!" she exclaimed, running over to a vase on the windowsill and gathering up the bouquet of flowers. She rushed back to Kate and handed them to her. "Perfect! Just perfect! Can you imagine?"

Beckett _could_ imagine now. She could see her wedding day clearly now that she was in _the _dress.

"Hold still, just a minute while I do some adjustments," said Poppy, grabbing her pins.

Beckett stood frozen while Poppy made one final adjustment on the dress and stood back to admire her work. "Finished. You know, Jay would be so happy, seeing an actual bride in his design."

"I'm glad," Beckett nodded, stepping down from the pedestal. "You did a great job. I gotta get back to work. It was really nice meeting you, Poppy."

"Nice meeting you too, Detective Beckett."

* * *

Beckett and Castle were cuddled up on the couch with a blanket thrown over them, watching an old black and white film on the big screen. Beckett was lying with her head on Castle's shoulder, just about to nod off when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Castle said, grabbing the remote to pause the movie. He stood up slowly, stretching out his tired limbs.

Kate was immediately cold in the absence of his body heat and told him to hurry back.

Castle opened the door to greet the delivery man.

"Package for Katherine Beckett?" said the FedEx guy, holding out a clipboard which Castle signed.

"Thank you," Castle said, trading the clipboard for the package. He shut the door. "Are you expecting anything?" he asked.

Kate yawned. "Maybe it's the wedding invitations."

"It says 'fragile'," said Castle, examining the box which was long and thin. He went into the kitchen to get a knife and returned to the couch where he deposited her delivery. He sliced the blade along the line of tape and tore open the box.

Kate gasped.

Inside was a white dress made of fabric as smooth and silky as water. The same white dress she had tried on the day before.

"Is that…?" asked Castle.

Kate grabbed the small white card inside and shut the box "You can't see it yet!"

"Oh, c'mon!" Castle whined, reaching for the box.

Beckett held it out of his reach and read the card aloud.

_"To Detective Beckett._

_Thanks for everything you've done. _

_Love, Poppy and Jay"_

Beckett beamed. "Looks like I won't have to show up naked to our wedding after all, Castle. Looks like your dream won't come true this time."

"That's okay," he said with a shrug. "My dream will already be fulfilled because I'm marrying you." He smiled wryly.

"Aww," Beckett said, patting him on the cheek and giving him a kiss. "That was a cheesy line, babe. Sweet, but cheesy."

"Sweet but cheesy… like chocolate covered cheese."

"Or cheese covered chocolate."

"Gross."

"_You're _gross."

"We're both gross, darling."

**Fin.**


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